There are two unequivocal facts about the Department
of Corrections: 1) Our mission is significant
and unique; and 2) What we are called to do is subject
to scrutiny and criticism. These facts will never
change - nor should they. Criticism may be unfair at
times and final judgment is ultimately in the eye of
the beholder, but I firmly believe that these facts make
us better and stronger by challenging us to persevere
and meet our formidable mission. In the words of
Thomas Edison, “Restlessness and discontent are the
first necessities of progress.”

This past year, the culture of the Department has improved,
as we have inspired in our workforce a climate
to promote ethics, integrity, and professionalism.
We realize the importance of our Code of Conduct.
These are not mere words printed on paper. They are
inherent qualities to achieve exemplary public service,
a commitment to public safety, the support and protection
of fellow co-workers and the proper supervision,
care, and transition of nearly a quarter-million
inmates and community-supervised offenders.

It is my belief that these characteristics and the processes
we have implemented will prepare us to meet
even greater challenges. Likewise, I am proud of what
our 27,000 employees both accomplished and overcame
in 2006-2007.

Late 2006, questions arose in regard to the Department
of Corrections’ execution procedures. As
a matter of fidelity to the laws that govern us, the
Department completed an immediate and thorough
appraisal of its procedures. We set three guiding principles
to shape this review: 1) The Department must
put foremost the objective of a humane and dignified
death; 2) While the entire process of execution should
be transparent, the concerns and emotions of all those
involved must be addressed; and 3) Without impinging
on the other principles, the execution should not
be of long duration. We subsequently implemented
both our observations and the many recommendations
of the Governor’s Commission on the Administration
of Lethal Injection.

Spring 2007, several employees were involved in a
series of dehumanizing and degrading behaviors at
Hendry Correctional Institution. However, an aggressive
and immediate response that same evening
contained the situation. An aggressive and continued
pursuit of the facts resulted in the uncovering of additional
unsavory incidents. While these incidents were
disturbing, they remind us that we must remain vigilant
and restless in our efforts to maintain law, ethics
and morality. There will always be a few amongst us
who challenge our entirety. Ultimately, we are judged
by how we respond to the challenge.

The Department’s Office of the Inspector General has
been instrumental in both meeting the challenges of
that evening at Hendry and the challenges of the longterm.
When proper systems are in place, corruption
or the potential for corruption can be overcome at any
level of the Department. From 1999 to 2006, the Office
of Inspector General was first reduced in size by
a leadership eager to cut and then curtailed in scope
by a leadership anxious to stifle insights into internal
Department behavior. However, a renewed focus on
proper staffing, organization and autonomy has been
essential to the Office’s renewed efforts to prevent
incidents like those at Hendry from going unchecked.

In 2006-2007, the Office completed 25 audits/reviews,
as compared to 10 in 2004-2005.

The Office’s Drug Detection Canine Unit and
Contraband Interdiction Unit both continued to
serve our many institutions, maintaining security
as it pertains to the introduction of illegal and
dangerous substances.

The use of monitoring activities over inmate telephone
conversations allowed the Department to
intervene in numerous attempts to smuggle drugs
into prison facilities.

Additionally, the Bureau of State Investigations
has implemented initiatives that appear to successfully
curb the perpetuating of isolated incidents,
including the establishment of early warning
systems to track and prevent staff misconduct.

Fall 2007, we were challenged again, when the Office
of the Inspector General concluded an investigation
into the moving of inmates by outside attorneys and
individuals for money. The investigation revealed
that attorneys were charging money to arrange inmate
transfers to desirable facilities. It was learned that
the attorneys and others would contact Department
of Corrections’ Classification employees to have the
moves expedited or approved even when the inmate
was not eligible. The investigation failed to reveal that
the current employees received any compensation.
However, the investigation did reveal that vigilance,
proper systems and good people can overcome a corrupted
few and mitigate the impacts of what could
have been a dangerous situation.

May 2007, Assistant Secretary of Institutions George
Sapp addressed the Department, writing, “I have said
many times that if you do the right thing for the right
reasons, everything will fall into place.” Continuously,
the many capable leaders of the Department have
proven this statement true. As we enter 2008, I am
confident in our current leadership – senior leadership,
regional directors, wardens, circuit administrators
and many others. These fine professionals were
instrumental in rebuilding the image of the Department,
consistently demonstrating that their word is
their bond.

Systems are now in place to ensure staff is treated
fairly and with dignity:

The random drug testing policy for employees in
Florida law was implemented to help those who
test positive get a chance to rehabilitate and contribute
to the agency – not as punishment.

The Department has corrected a merit promotion
system that in recent years had allowed for decisions
that were arbitrary, punitive and showed favoritism.
Current promotion procedures consider
a variety of factors including training, education,
experience, performance quality, length of service,
time in grade, and potential to serve at a higher
level of responsibility. Promotion eligibility is
tied to specific training, past disciplinary actions
and overall performance records. Nepotism and
cronyism are not tolerated.

Physical fitness has been emphasized and taken
root in the Department, aided by an improved
importance on health lifestyles.

In order to attract the finest recruits, a dynamic
recruitment campaign featuring our own employees
was developed to advertise careers within the Department.
A recruitment website http://fldocjobs.com,
and toll-free number 1-866-JOB-FDOC were created
for potential applicants. These tools provide interested
applicants one single point of contact in pursuing
a career within the Department of Corrections.
This has assisted the Department in reducing vacancies
statewide but particularly in critical areas such as
in Region IV. The vacancy rate for this region alone
dropped nearly two percent from 5 to 3.2 percent.

Additionally, we placed into law accountability measures
and internal oversight mechanisms to ensure
that employee clubs expend funds in support of
programs and activities that increase employee morale
and strengthen the institution’s relationship with the
community.

An innovative initiative implemented this year helping
victims and their families of crime was the Cold
Case Cards program involving a partnership between
the Department, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement,
the Attorney General’s Office and Crime
Stoppers programs throughout Florida. By distributing
thousands of decks of cards featuring unsolved
murders or missing person’s cases to Florida inmates,
the Department is doing its part to help solve these
cases. Inmates can call the tip line anonymously and
claim a reward if their tip about a case leads to an
arrest. Since the program’s inception in July 2007,
there have been two arrests for previously unsolved
homicide cases. Recognized nationally, the Florida
Department of Corrections is the first prison system
in the country to distribute Crime Stoppers Cold Case
Playing Card decks to prison inmates.

As public safety is our charge, we continue to reap the
successes of our absconder initiative, soliciting the
assistance of numerous state and federal agencies in
this effort. Since February 2006, we have seen a 31.2
percent decrease in the number of absconders (44,020
to 30,276).

Also on the Community Corrections front, I am
proud of our probation officers for their consistent and thoughtful implementation of the Department’s
modified “Zero Tolerance” policy. Since we updated
the policy, to stress that only “willful” violations of
probation be reported, we have seen a 22 percent decline
in the number of technical probation violations.
This is good for both the criminal justice system as a
whole and our individual probation officers, who are
often stretched-thin, to address a demanding workload.

Amongst our agency’s accomplishments was the revision
of our mission statement to include the reentry
of prisoners into society. Our mission statement now
reads:

“To protect the public, ensure the safety of Department
personnel, and provide for the proper care and
supervision of all offenders under our jurisdiction
while assisting, as appropriate, their reentry into
society.”

A successful reentry into free society is an essential
tenet to maintaining public safety. Crime deterrence
is the greatest means to protect Floridians from
becoming the victims of crime. Our goal is to bring
the recidivism rate (recommitment to prison) down
from its current rate of 32 percent to 20 percent by
2012. This past year, we took several necessary steps
to enhance our reentry efforts, including:

Implementation of Governor Crist’s initiative
to automatically restore the civil rights of exoffenders,
who have already paid their debt to
society. The Restoration of Civil Rights is often a
key ingredient in obtaining meaningful employment
for ex-offenders, thereby reducing the future
occurrence of crime. In six months time, Institutions
and Community Corrections staff vigorously
reviewed the files of 280,712 ex-offenders, finding
150,663 possible candidates for restoration of civil
rights.

Initiation of a comprehensive strategic plan for
reentry.

Aggressive pursuit of federal reentry grants.

Institution of new policies for the 100-Hour Transition
Program.

Coordination of reentry seminars at correctional
institutions, and developing a plan to take this
initiative statewide.

Completion of a pilot program at Wakulla C.I.,
testing viable options to provide inmates with a
valid form of identification upon release.

Partnership with the state courts and numerous
state agencies, including the Departments of Children
and Families and Juvenile Justice, to improve
services for the mentally ill.

I am proud of the great strides the Department of
Corrections has made in the past year, and anticipate
further improvements. I am grateful for the privilege
of serving alongside the men and women in the finest
corrections department in the nation to fulfill the oath
we have taken to our office and to the constitutions of
the State of Florida and the United States of America.